Chapter 119: Promotion List

In the backstage viewing area, Xu Zhuo felt that the operational style of the second game was somewhat different from Chi Shu’s usual style. He murmured in a low voice, “With Chi Shu’s temper, he wouldn’t let the kill count stay 0:0 throughout the early game, right?”

Xie Weiyu said, “Tianhuan camped people several times, but didn’t pursue after crippling them. Actually, Captain Chi’s [Fighter] has many displacement skills. If he had chased, he could have killed them.”

But the result was that every time Tianhuan crippled an opponent, they didn’t chase, focusing solely on pushing lanes and taking towers. It was as if they were using the 0:0 score to mock Yaoguang—we can win without killing you.

At the commentary desk, Brother Dong smiled and said, “Let’s first listen to the replay of the match voice comms.”

After every match, the director would select voice clips from the winning team for replay. At this moment, the excited screaming fans had quieted down, and the voices of the Tianhuan players, amplified by microphones, echoed clearly in the arena.

What was played happened to be the recording from the final team fight.

Ye Shaoyang’s clear voice came through the voice channel: “Retreat a wave, then counter-attack.”

Qu Jiang said, “I’ll activate speed boost, run fast.”

Following that was Cheng Xing’s excited voice: “My Brother Yang is awesome! Controlled all five of them!”

Chi Shu said calmly, “I’ll kill the marksman.”

Old Qin said, “Mid laner is mine.”

Then, Cheng Xing was shouting rapidly while maneuvering frantically to deal damage: “My Brother Yang is awesome! Master is awesome! Old Qin is awesome! Brother Qu ahhh I killed two!”

Audience: “…”

Xiao Xing, you’re hurting our ears.

Ye Shaoyang’s voice, tinged with laughter, came through: “Nice. Enemy team wiped, one wave to end it.”

Qu Jiang lowered his voice to mimic the Earth Mage’s voice line: “Stay where you belong, stop indulging in wishful thinking.”

Cheng Xing said excitedly, “Brother Qu, Brother Qu, can you stop making ‘Xiao Xing’s 100 Ways to Die Collection’ and make a ‘Xiao Xing’s Handsome Kill Collection’ instead?”

Qu Jiang laughed and said, “Buy me a box of chicken legs, and I’ll consider it.”

Audience: “??”

What is “Xiao Xing’s 100 Ways to Die Collection”?

Seems like we heard something fun!

The voice replay ended there.

Xu Zhuo said with certainty, “Chi Shu wasn’t commanding this game.”

Xie Weiyu turned to look at him. “How can you be sure?”

Xu Zhuo chuckled. “When Chi Shu commands, Tianhuan’s voice channel is quiet. His command style is usually: Support initiate, retreat quickly, catch the marksman—simple and cold. Often he doesn’t even speak, just uses pings to command in-game. Cheng Xing wouldn’t dare chirp and shout randomly in front of his Master!”

Xie Weiyu thought about it carefully; Xu Zhuo made sense. When Chi Shu commanded, there was basically no noise in Tianhuan’s voice channel, at most Qu Jiang reporting vision status, while Cheng Xing was quiet as a chicken.

But today, Tianhuan’s voice channel was very lively. Moreover, in this team fight, it was Ye Shaoyang who said to retreat and counter-attack. You have to know, whether to take a team fight or not must depend on the shot-caller’s judgment.

Xie Weiyu was startled. “Could it be that Yang Yang was commanding?”

Xu Zhuo looked thoughtful. “It’s possible. He said, retreat a wave, counter-attack. That was the key.” Xu Zhuo paused, then turned to look at Xie Weiyu. “Do you remember the recording of Xiao Bai’s King promotion match that Zhao Xin’an posted in the group chat, where Streamer Xiao Bai commanded lane operations to turn defeat into victory?”

Xie Weiyu recalled that match and nodded. “Yes. Looking at it this way, Yang Yang actually has commanding ability too. In this game against Yaoguang, there’s a high probability he was commanding.”

---

At the same time, Beimu Team.

Zhao Xinping said calmly, “Ye Shaoyang should be commanding this game. When Chi Shu commands, Tianhuan’s voice channel is never this lively; it’s usually very quiet.”

Zhao Xin’an wanted to hit a wall every time he watched a Tianhuan match, always feeling like he had delivered a deluxe treasure chest to Tianhuan. Hearing this, he couldn’t help but complain, “Xiao Bai can indeed command. Didn’t we start paying attention to him precisely because of his strong macro sense, using operations to crush Brother A-Yu in a disadvantageous game?”

Sean asked seriously, “Beating Yaoguang 2:0, it seems Tianhuan is guaranteed to enter Group S. I wonder who their first opponent in Group S will be. Do we need to prepare in advance?”

Beimu’s coach stroked his chin and said, “Let’s study them in advance. We are familiar with the other opponents in Group S, but we haven’t fought Tianhuan yet.” He paused and said, “Tianhuan might become the biggest variable in Group S, we have to guard against them.”

---

The MVP of this game was once again given to Ye Shaoyang.

During the post-match interview, the reporter’s voice was excited: “Welcome Tianhuan Lieyang back to the interview seat! Listening to the post-match voice comms just now, Tianhuan’s voice channel was really lively. Xiao Xing also mentioned ‘100 Ways to Die Collection.’ Many viewers left comments expressing curiosity. Can you tell us what this is?”

Ye Shaoyang said, “It’s a video compilation Qu Jiang made out of boredom, featuring 100 ways Xiao Xing died.”

In the livestream chat—

[Making a compilation of a teammate’s 100 ways to die? I didn’t expect you to be like this, Qu Jiang!]

[Hahaha, Qu Jiang is black-bellied, I knew he wasn’t simple.]

[Brother Qu, can you release the compilation for us to see? I also want to see Xiao Xing’s 100 ways to die.]

[Want to see +1]

The reporter followed up and asked, “Can this video be released for everyone to see?”

Ye Shaoyang smiled. “That would require consulting Qu Jiang and Xiao Xing’s opinions.”

The reporter changed the topic. “Alright. Tianhuan defeated Yaoguang 2:0 today. The tactics for the two games were completely different. Was this discussed beforehand?”

Ye Shaoyang said, “The lineups were of course practiced in advance. Tianhuan prepares diligently for every match.”

The reporter said, “The style of Tianhuan’s voice channel was quite different from usual. Many viewers are curious, did you change shot-callers?”

Ye Shaoyang said frankly, “That’s right, I commanded the second game.” He paused, narrowing his eyes as he said, “Our Captain Chi gets a bit tired commanding all the time, so he let me test the waters in the second game.”

Everyone: “…”

So you used Yaoguang for practice, right?

A 0:0 kill score, mocking the opponent… indeed not Captain Chi’s style.

Reporter: “Thank you, Lieyang, for accepting the interview. Keep it up for tomorrow’s matches!”

Ye Shaoyang bowed politely to the reporters at the interview seat and turned back to the backstage area.

Coach Lin walked over in a good mood and said, “Everyone, go back to the hotel first.”

Ye Shaoyang revealing that he commanded during the interview was actually instructed by Coach Lin.

The teams in Group S currently didn’t know Ye Shaoyang’s command style. His command talent had been discovered back in his Streamer Xiao Bai days, so it couldn’t be hidden anyway. Might as well let the coaches in Group S guess for themselves.

Before future matches begin, the coaches of major teams will probably get headaches guessing—is Tianhuan being commanded by Chi Shu or Ye Shaoyang? Is Tianhuan going for Mid-Jungle synergy, carry Jungle, or operational play?

What hero will Ye Shaoyang pick? What about Chi Shu?

What should we ban?

Previously, before every match, Lin Feng would get a headache, not knowing what heroes to pick to win, worrying that Chi Shu’s jungle would be heavily targeted.

Now, the tables have turned, and it’s the coaches of other teams who have the headaches.

And Tianhuan’s Mid and Jungle have hero pools that are too deep—ban whatever you want!

---

The next afternoon was the A/B seeding match, and the evening was the S/A seeding match.

After the afternoon matches, the slots for Groups A and B were determined, and Group B would be entirely eliminated. The first match at 7 PM was Yueying vs. Yaoguang. Ye Shaoyang and the others also arrived at the venue early to watch.

Shortly after the game started, Yu’mao made a positioning error while laning in the bottom lane and was caught by Xie Weiyu, resulting in a solo kill!

——First Blood!

Xie Weiyu took First Blood.

Brother Dong couldn’t help but say, “Solo killed in lane as a marksman, Yu’mao’s mistake just now was a bit serious.”

Yao Mu said, “Xiao Yu played very calmly, immediately seizing the opportunity to kill the opponent. After all, he has played for two years and has rich competition experience; his mentality is much more stable than a rookie’s.”

Brother Dong paused and said, “Regarding player Xiao Yu, there have been many negative comments about him online recently. But actually, professional players transferring teams is a very common phenomenon. There’s no need to overinterpret it. After he came to Yueying, the team’s decline in performance wasn’t solely his fault, but a problem with team synergy.”

Yao Mu nodded. “That’s right. After Yueying dropped from Group S to Group A, they played 5 matches in Group A, and the team’s synergy has also improved.”

As they were speaking, Yueying’s jungler suddenly ganked the bottom lane, using a combo of controls to root Yu’mao in place. Xie Weiyu followed up with burst damage, taking Yu’mao’s head once again.

With two kills in hand, Xie Weiyu’s development speed was extremely fast.

In a mid-lane team fight, Xu Zhuo flashed to flank and cut into the backline, instantly breaking Yaoguang’s formation. Xie Weiyu maneuvered quickly on the periphery, dealing damage—

Double Kill!
Triple Kill!

Yao Mu said excitedly, “Xiao Yu took a triple kill in this fight!”

Brother Dong said, “Xiao Yu’s positioning is indeed very agile. Yaoguang failed to deal with the marksman position, and their own marksman fell first, causing the team fight to collapse.”

Yao Mu said, “The mid outer tower fell even faster than yesterday.”

Sitting backstage, Ye Shaoyang couldn’t help but laugh when he saw this. “Yaoguang is making a lot of mistakes in today’s match!”

Chi Shu said calmly, “Their mentality was broken by us.”

Cheng Xing gloated beside him, “Told them to play those entertainment industry marketing tricks. In the end, the higher they are lifted, the harder they fall. That Yu’mao was killed 0-6 by us yesterday, probably had a mental breakdown and didn’t adjust well.”

In the S/A seeding matches, there wasn’t a long rest period between the two matches. One on Saturday, the second immediately on Sunday. If the mentality couldn’t be adjusted, it was indeed easy to collapse.

Tianhuan’s mocking playstyle in the two games yesterday was like slapping Yu’mao in the face publicly.

After returning to the hotel last night, the more Yu’mao thought about it, the angrier he got. Even in his dreams, he heard the Goddess of Destiny’s taunting voice line: “This is destiny, do not attempt to resist!” When he woke up in the morning, his mood wasn’t good. In today’s match, he was desperate to prove that he was stronger than Yaoguang’s old captain.

However, the more anxious he was, the easier it was to make mistakes!

In contrast, Xie Weiyu was very calm from start to finish. After seizing the opportunity to solo kill him, he started snowballing. In a blink of an eye, his economy was 1000 higher than Yu’mao’s, leading by a full item.

How could he fight that!

Yaoguang collapsed in just 15 minutes in the first game.

Xie Weiyu’s stats: 8-0.
Yu’mao’s stats: 0-6.

This stark contrast was too ironic.

In the second game, although Yaoguang’s coach tried hard to adjust the lineup, the team’s morale had already “plummeted a thousand miles,” and the players’ condition was far worse than yesterday. In a crucial team fight, Yueying’s top laner Xu Zhuo flashed to flank and cut the squishies like slicing melons and vegetables, instantly deleting Yaoguang’s marksman and mid-laner, quickly ending the match.

Yao Mu: “Congratulations to Yueying Team for winning this match 2:0!”

Brother Dong said, “Yueying defeated Langzu 2:0 yesterday and Yaoguang 2:0 today, taking the lead to secure a promotion spot to Group S!”

Next, it was up to Tianhuan.

Tianhuan vs. Langzu, the final match of the S/A seeding matches, was undoubtedly taken down cleanly with a 2:0 score.

With this, the second stage seeding matches concluded completely. Both Tianhuan and Yueying advanced with a 2-win streak.

The final list for Group S was displayed on the big screen.

Yao Mu said, “Congratulations to Tianhuan and Yueying for advancing to Group S hand in hand! Currently, the teams in Group S are Beimu Team, Jingzhe Team, Binghun Team, Huowen Team, and the newly promoted Tianhuan and Yueying Teams!”

Brother Dong said, “In the third stage, the points of all teams will be reset to zero. And the matches in this stage will determine the playoff spots and rankings!”

Yao Mu said, “There will be a bye week next. Players also need to adjust their condition as soon as possible to face the more intense competition that follows. Let’s look forward to the performance of the 6 Group S teams in the third stage!”

Backstage.

Xu Zhuo walked over and hugged Chi Shu, smiling. “Good job!”

Chi Shu nodded. “Yeah, see you in Group S.”

Ye Shaoyang said to Xie Weiyu beside him, “Xiao Yu, you were too handsome today! You are an 8-0 marksman, Yu’mao is a 0-6 marksman. Let’s see how Yaoguang markets that.”

Xie Weiyu chuckled softly, his voice gentle. “I don’t care about those things anymore.”

Before, he would feel sad because of the online comments scolding him, but today he suddenly understood that Yaoguang’s rookie wanting to step on him to rise was just a marketing tactic. Either he becomes the opponent’s stepping stone, or he uses match results to prove his strength.

E-sports is a place that relies on strength to speak.

No matter how pretty the words are, they aren’t as convincing as actual combat results.

There was no need to give those haters and paid trolls any attention. Today’s match was enough to prove…

That he, Xiao Yu, was still a top-tier marksman in the Alliance!

Meeting his clear eyes, Ye Shaoyang patted his shoulder and said, “It’s best if you can let it go. Yaoguang’s matter is in the past, don’t think about it. Group S is full of strong teams; it won’t be easy to play next.”

Xie Weiyu said seriously, “Yeah, let’s go back and prepare well.”

Tianhuan and Yueying would meet again in Group S, but so what? Everyone competes openly and honestly, and after the match, they can still eat skewers together. Winning or losing is temporary; friends are forever.

Messages suddenly popped up in the [God’s War Super God] group chat.

[I Am Very Square]: @Old Xu @Tianhuan Shuoyue, welcome to Group S.
[I Am Very Round]: Clapping, clapping!
[Xiao Chen]: Scattering flower petals.
[Zhou Zhou]: Group S welcomes the Demon King. Everyone, prepare to fight the BOSS.
[Reporter Zhao]: Wash your necks clean, wait for me to come kill and explode you guys!
[Sean]: [Cracked.jpg]

Ye Shaoyang looked at the messages scrolling non-stop in the group chat, the corners of his lips raising slightly.

Group S, we are finally here.